Place Xavier Neujean, No. 15

The building at the corner of Rue Sébastien Laruelle was designed for dentist Mr. Oury by the architect Paul Jaspar, one of the grand masters of Art Nouveau in Liège. The style reproduces many characteristics of traditional Mosan architecture: an alternation of bricks and rows of stone, the stone casement windows, lead-lined stained glass, an overhanging cornice with wooden supports, fake timbering on the oriel window, etc. Some symbolistic traits of Art Nouveau have nevertheless been incorporated, such as the flat roof and the ironwork grids comprising leaf shapes covering the basement windows. The lintel above the main door includes a head sculpted by the artist Berchmans, depicting a tormented face as if absorbed by a wave of despair. Was it an allusion to the worry of the dentist’s patients? Other heads will surprise visitors who raise their gaze to the wooden structures of the balcony at the top of the corner of the façade.